Joel Rosenberg is a talented writer and his series is fast paced with a lot of action. I enjoyed all of the books in the series, so I was looking forward to reading Dead Heat (Political Thrillers, No. 5)
The story begins with 5 nuclear missiles being launched at the United States. Jon and Erin Bennett are in Jordan doing mission work while their home is being destroyed. Erin becomes very ill, and Jon is desperately trying to find out what’s wrong with her. Jon receives a mysterious phone call telling him that something awful is about to happen to the United States and he can prevent the next series of terrible events. The unidentified caller says he will call him again.
The President of the United States is killed in the attacks (along with most of the Congress), and Vice President Oaks in inaugurated as President. President Oaks calls on Jon for advice as most of his staff is dead. About half way through the book, Rosenberg lost me. (*Spoiler alert*) One of the main characters dies. I know this happens in a lot of stories, but this one really bugged me. I started skimming the story and found out that another main character dies. I couldn’t finish the book. I had connected with the characters and was cheering for them. I realize the author’s thinking is that the characters have the ultimate victory, meeting Jesus. However, in action stories, I expect the main characters to triumph on earth despite the odds against them.
Don’t let this review prevent you from reading the series, though. If main characters dying bugs you too, then skip the last book. It’s well written and enjoyable. The first book is the Last Jihad even though CBD lists it as the third. Here’s the order:
The Last Jihad (Political Thrillers Series #1)
The Last Days (Political Thrillers Series #2)
The Ezekiel Option (Political Thrillers Series #3)
The Copper Scroll (Political Thrillers Series #4)
Dead Heat (Political Thrillers, No. 5)
Dead HeatJoel’s series has received a lot of attention due to his uncanny ability to write situations that echo today’s current events before they occur. Here’s a short description of this first book taken from his web site www.joelrosenberg.com. A description of all of his books and more information about Joel is there.
“The first page of his first novel-The Last Jihad-puts you inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city, which leads to a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction. Yet it was written before 9/11, long before the actual war with Iraq.”
Anyone have any comments? How do you feel when one or more main characters die? Does it depend on the genre or the way the story is told?